Fun in the Cabo Sun!

We spent 6 days in Cabo, Mexico compliments of our son-in-law Jamie.  He actually won the all inclusive package for two from Papa Murphy's and then he gave the tickets to us!!  Is he the greatest or what!!  Of course, his wife, Dina wasn't exactly thrilled that he gave them away, but when we pointed out that it was for TWO (2!!) not five and that I WOULD NOT keep their darling, energetic little boy for 6 days, she agreed that it was probably for the best!

We stayed at Riu Palace down on the tip of Baja about one mile from the town of Cabo.  The Riu was all inclusive, so all meals and snacks and ALL DRINKS were FREE!!  They really made out good with us because we don't drink and we did not go overboard on the food (it's kind of like a cruise, help yourself all day long!!).  We decided to rent a car and see some of the area and also so that Scott would have transportation to golf courses!!

                                                                         View from room

The first full day at the resort after we rented the car, Scott went to a golf course and hit some balls.  The second day we decided to take a road trip up the east side and inland a bit.  We were told there was a "rain forest" (I am thinking, didn't I just come from a "rain forest" LOL!!) and it was about a 1 1/2 hour drive.  At one point we did have to get off a paved road and travel for about 15 minutes on a washboard dirt road.  We were certainly wondering when we would see a 'rain forest' because all we saw was saguaro cactus and desert looking plants!  There were bulls along the side of the road and they all had big bells around their neck - the cutest thing really!  Except for when Scott stopped the car for me to take a picture of this big one with horns who was about 10 feet from me and as I was trying to focus and find him on the camera he decided to get up!  OMG!!!  I snapped the picture and Scott took off!  Not surprisingly, I missed the bull!

                                 note the 'cow bells' around their necks

When we got to our final destination, we learned that we actually needed to hike down to a very small lake that was formed from a waterfall.  It was beautiful, but the hike down was a long way and very rocky, I didn't think my knees would like to tackle that terrain, so we just went a short way and then stopped and took some pictures.

 The grates across the road to keep the cows from crossing!  It was a little scary,we weren't sure they would hold!

 On our drive we noticed that along the side of the road there were many "memorial" mini houses.  At one particular place there were about eight of them.  We later learned that two tour buses collided about three years ago and eight people were killed. 

Many of these memorials had pictures of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the back wall.  Some had pictures of the deceased along with a letter.  It was very sad, but something that we saw frequently along the road.  Some of these little memorials were small but many were 6 - 8 feet tall!  Really quite amazing!

The next day Scott was able to play at a course called Eldorado, it is another Discovery property.  A rather exclusive property, way out of our price range.  However, son in law Jamie came through again with a contact person to get Scott on the course and he played with a golf pro and another twosome joined them and one of them was none other than Christian Slater!!!  OMG, can you believe it?  When he called and told me, I asked if he got a picture with him, and he replied, "NO, but I got a picture of a pelican!!"

I wanted to point out the house in the background.  It is owned by a doctor who has 72 patents for Aids related products.  George Clooney, Cindy Crawford, Sylvester Stallone all own houses on the course in the 20 million dollar range!!  Even Jennifer Aniston owns a villa there and I bet he would have gotten a picture with her if she was playing!!

The next day Scott was able to play at a new course on the Pacific Ocean side of the Baja called Diamante.  It is a lynx golf course and Scott fell in love with it.  He came back to the hotel to get me as we were invited to have dinner up at their Cantina.  And we were invited to return the next day and get a tour of the whole course on an ATV.  We rode the sand dunes and went down to the beach where we saw groups of pelicans sunning themselves on the sand.  It was so much fun and we could just picture Aaron and Caleb drooling over our sand dune adventures as they are huge 'quad' fans and go down to southern Oregon several times a year to ride their quads on our dunes.

  Here we are outside the cantina, the pacific ocean is behind us and the green grass is the golf course.

 Look at that sand!  Doesn't it look like fun to drive all around and up and down?  How about that sky!!

Now for some hotel shots:  the pool was fantastic, it had one of those edges that look like the water just floats right off the ledge.  There were two big pools to choose with bars at each pool and even a "pool bar" with places to set your drinks while you relax in the water!

There were cruise ships nearly every day.  There was para sailing, glass bottom boat riding, snorkeling, horse back riding and lots of adventures right on the beach.  However the water drops off very quickly just past shore and there is a strong undertow so it was not recommended to swim in the ocean. 

Our last day we took another road excursion up to a town called "Todos Santos" which means All Saints and it is considered a "magical city" and apparently all 'states' of Mexico have a magical city.  This one was about another 1 1/2 hour drive.  We saw the original Hotel California and walked around their gift shop.  And of course we had to go into their church.  The outside was getting a face lift and new patios and sidewalks.

Our final morning after breakfast and heading up to get our luggage I snapped a picture of Scott on the bridge overlooking the pool and the ocean.  From Cabo we flew into Phoenix and as we looked out and saw the big vast blue sky Scott turned to me and asked if we could stay a few extra days in Scottsdale.  Sure!!  Why not!!  So our vacation was extended a few extra days and it was just perfect.  We hadn't been back to the house in a year due to building our home in West Linn and the weather was really nice and warm, so Scott was able to continue his golf game and I was able to read more books and relax.

Well, that's it folks, I do have more pics, but I think this gives you a good idea about Cabo and what we did.  I must admit to being a bit nervous at times being down there especially after talking to some of the other people who were in our group.  One day a couple walked to the town which was only about a mile, but when they had a meal, the waiter said it is not a good idea to walk, people have been known to disappear!  Wow!  We never even went into the town of Cabo, figured it would look a lot like all other seaside tourist places.  And of course we were told stories about bribing police officers if stopped for any reason.  They seem to be very corrupt and that is their way of life.  And it seems a lot of men want to be police officers...sure they can make extra money that way from all the pay offs!  And of course it was the day we were leaving that 10 people were killed by gang wars and even in Arizona they reported more killings and advising Americans not to go to Mexico.  I am thinking there are many wonderful, sunny places in our good old USA that we can discover!

The BIG 60 for Scott and Me!

What?  When did this happen?  How could I possibly be 60 years old?  It seems just like yesterday that I had children in the house....wait, I still do have children in the house, but now they are "grandchildren"!  I guess 60 is about right when I remember how it feels to get up off the floor....that is if I can even get down to the floor!

Truth be told, Scott was 60 on the 23rd of February and he got to celebrate his birthday in Arizona with son-in-law Jamie and Jamie's dad, Jack.  It had rained the previous three days, but on the day of his birthday the sky cleared to a beautiful blue and the sun was shining and all was good!  So the three went out to play some golf...had a 1 1/2 hour delay due to frost, but it turned out great!  I was still in Washington but heading home that night.

My birthday is on Friday, March 5, but because we have so many February and March birthdays (Dina's is Feb. 19th, Scott's the 23rd, Mine Mar 5th, Jamie's the 8th and Aaron's the 17th) we try to do one BIG group party!  And yeah for me that Dina has the big house now that can hold our family....not to mention the mess!

 

We are blessed to still have Scott' parents and my dad to join us for our big family gatherings.  Scott's brother, John and his wife were also there to help us celebrate.  It is difficult to see from the picture, sorry about the pic, it seems a bit grainy...anyway, Cold Stone Creamery cupcakes and ice cream cookies for the birthday desserts! They were a big hit!

Aaron brought up Caleb's motorcycle and all of the children loved riding that.  Aaron took the little ones for rides and the first thing out of Jalen's mouth the next morning, before he was even out of bed was asking about riding the motorcycle!  Hmmm I am thinking this might be a good way to bribe that little guy into sleeping in his own bed!  What do you think?  If you are not big enough to sleep in your own bed (NOT between mommy and daddy!!) then you probably are not big enough to ride the motorcycle!!  Do you think it will work?   Hey, it is worth a try, for sure!

A trip to Maple Valley

I have a best friend Linda, we met when I was 7 years old and she was 8 (she is about 8 months older than me).   My family lived down at the end of a dead end street, she was at the very top of the street.  We both went to St. Edward's Catholic Grade School.  We became fast friends and spent a lot of time at each other' homes.  Mostly, if my recollection is correct, I was at her house more because she needed to keep an eye on a younger brother and sister.  When she was in junior high, her family moved to the Des Moines area in Washington and then when I was a sophomore, my family moved down here to Milwaukie, Oregon.  Through the moves and marriages and children and her divorce, we have remained best friends and always look forward to spending time together to catch up and to craft!  She went to Medjugorje with me last May and that was a very special bond for the two of us.

Anyway, I digress.  Her family is like a second family to me.  Her dad is is from Spanish decent and grew up in New Mexico.  He always teased me about painting my blue eyes brown to match his other two daughters!  Linda's mom had breast cancer nearly five years ago and was in fact coming up on her 5th year being a survivor, however in the fall she started to have some stomach issues and started losing a lot of weight.  The end result is that the cancer is back and has spread and she doesn't have a lot of time left.  Right now she is not in any pain and for that we are most thankful.  I wanted to see her and spend time with her while we could still talk and for me to come away with good memories.

I took the train up on Friday and Linda met me at the Tukwila depot.  We had a great weekend, even got in some crafting!  We actually went to a "Stamp Camp" on Saturday morning and made four cards and a project that could be mounted on the refrigerator. 

Winnie and I got to spend some time alone talking about death and fear of dying and then we said the rosary together.  It was of course heart breaking for me and I was pretty emotional, but I told her that the good Lord will be holding her hand and guiding her every step of the way.  I told her that He loves her with such great love that He will be there to comfort her and give her strength to carry the cross she is to bear.  I bought her a rosary CD so that when the time comes that she will not have the strength to speak the prayers of the rosary, she will be able to hear them and I hope that will give her comfort.  Her husband is still living, he is 11 years older than her, he is 89 1/2 right now.  These last months will be most difficult for him as he sees his wife of 61years losing the battle of life.  However, with her faith and love for God, she will be inheriting eternal life in heaven.

Sunday afternoon one of Linda's sons invited us all to have dinner with his family, we picked up Frank and Winnie and drove them to Kelly's house.  We had a delightful time visiting with Kelly's family, he has a son almost 7 years old and two step daughters who are 15 and 17.  More good memories were made that night.

 

Legally Blonde - The Musical

We are becoming artistically enriched by the musicals coming to town!  For Dina's birthday we took all the 'grown-up kids' to the musical Legally Blonde.  It was really good!  If you recall several years back there was a movie by that name as well as a sequel and it starred Reece Witherspoon.  She comes from a rich family and is in a sorority at a college in California, but the "man" she loves and thinks will ask her to marry him, dumps her because she is "blonde" and not so bright....she manages to get accepted into Harvard Law and she has quite the time using her ingenuity to accomplish tasks that the "brighter" students couldn't get done.  It was a delightful show the singing was great and the acting was also.

An Origami Card Challenge

The  Papertey Challenge was to use an origami in the card.  I made a ladybug and stamped and embossed the leaf from Turning a New Leaf stamp set. I stamped with Raspberry Fizz the flower from the blooming button bits

Cards, Cards, Cards!!

I love to make cards! So I am going to post a few of the latest ones I have made.  Dina and I need a couple of baby cards, so I was inspired to make some for girl friends having babies (HER girlfriends, not MINE!! lol!!)  Most of the stamps are from a company called Papertrey, Inc.  I love their stamps, inks and paper, they are all so yummy to work with!!

 

Well, that is just a few of the last set I have made  I did make a lot of valentine cards, but sent them off to Auntie's in Seattle!

A Final Good-Bye

This is one of the posts for the title of my blog...remembering the 4 w's, which is the who, what, where, when and maybe the why...

Who:    Riley, our faithful dog of 10 1/2 years.  We loved him so.
What:   He went to sleep this morning and is now in Dog heaven!
Where: At the office of Dr. Lisa Parshley, an oncologist
When:  Friday, February 5, 2010
Why:    Riley had lymphoma, but the doctor declared him in total remission after three treatments of chemo.  However, we believe he must have had some other issues because he could not keep food down.  We tried some intravenous liquid injections and while we thought they improved his health for a day or two, the not eating continued to be an issue.

Dr. Lisa and a good friend of mine told us that we would know when the time was "right".  We did indeed question it a few times, because our intent was to NOT have him suffer.  However, if we could get some wags out of him, some talking from him (happy to see us talking!) and eating and being able to get up and walk a bit, we were willing to do what we needed to extend his life so we could have more time with him.

Scott was the one who had the intuition that Thursday night would be his last night with us.  He didn't eat some roasted chicken I had given to him for an evening snack and in fact, he vomited on the plate.  Then at 4 AM Riley got up and headed to the door, Scott heard him and was quick to let him out.  He barely made it and vomited and had diarrhea.  So Scott sat on the floor with Riley's head in his lap and they talked for several hours.  Finally near 7 AM he woke me to tell me that he thought this was the day and Riley was ready.  I called both the girls and they brought their families over to see Riley and to say their final good-bye to him.

We were suppose to have a chemo treatment in the morning anyway, so we brought him over to Dr. Lisa and she agreed that Riley was ready, she could see it in his eyes and his body language.  She gave him a catheter and little valium to relax him and brought him back in the room to us.  Dina, Scott and I immediately hugged him and told him we loved him and he laid down next to us and we whispered our words to him, then the doctor gave him his final injection and it was over in a matter of seconds.  Our Riley was finally at peace.

 

 

Doesn't he just look so peaceful and happy now?  He is not nauseous and he doesn't have to struggle to get up.  His soul is in heaven and he is running and leaping in the fields and chasing those tennis balls and catching them in the air.  He loved his balls.  He played catch with himself, it would bounce and he would catch it, then drop it to bounce again and so it would go!!  And he was so fast when we threw the ball to him and oh did we praise him if he caught it in the air!!

We decided we needed to bring Riley home with us as we have a place for all our pets in the yard somewhere.  So son-in-law Jamie helped dig a deep hole and later most of the family gathered to lay him to rest.  I said a little prayer:

"All knowing God, creator of all living things, we come to you this day in grief and with thanksgiving.  We are sad by the death of our beloved pet Riley who was with our family over 10 years.  But we thank You, God, for this gift of his presence as a sign of the richness of your creation and the generosity of Your Love.  We are sad to say good-bye and that he had to leave us, but we are joyful that he is with You, God, running, chasing those tennis balls and greeting everyone he sees with a joyful voice.  Through Jesus Christ our savior who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen"

Dina and Scott gently lowered him into the ground and each of the older grandchildren and our daughters all helped to throw the dirt back into the grave.

 

Riley is laid to rest.

We will forever keep him

in our hearts.

We love you, Riley.